Counterterrorism, politics, religion, ...

September 30, 2011

When Herman Cain is rising to the top of the Republican presidential polls and things like this happen:

Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher says there is a media "double-standard" over Herman Cain saying blacks have been "brainwashed." Belcher calls Mr. Cain a bigot and a racist and says this incident is a "teachable moment." ( video and text at RCP, h/t TRS)

We also know that the Left must be worried when they read that public approval of Conservatives, Republicans, and Herman Cain is on the rise and when its latest poll Gallup poll the GOP has double-digit lead on national security and prosperity over the Democrats.

Americans see the Republican Party as better able than the Democratic Party to protect the country from terrorism and military threats, and to keep the country prosperous over the next few years.

Herman Cain at Republican debate pledges to aggressively prosecute CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations), ISNA (Islamic Society of North America), and NAIT (North American Islamic Trust) along with pledging to list the Muslim Brotherhood as a Designated Terrorist Organization. (The United West)

We are told that Herman Cain is a racist and bigot while brain trust Janeane Garofalo said that if you are for Herman Cain you are simply hiding your racism (I can't really figure that one out, but consider the source). Since the election of Barack Obama we have seen race relations get worse, class warfare has gotten worse, ....

The mindset I’m referring to is responsible for falsely telling blacks that they aren’t capable of succeeding on their own and, therefore, must be given one mulligan after another everywhere in life in the form of such criminally racists acts as Affirmative Action. But when one looks at blacks who have declined the handout from their pseudo-benefactors and decided to play the game cleanly, one sees CEOs at such firms as American Express, IBM, UPS, and yes, Godfather’s Pizza. Self-motivating blacks have climbed to the top seats of the entertainment industry, sports, the military and government. Indeed, it is difficult to find any part of American society that has not been penetrated and mastered by blacks who have chosen to do it on their own.

To say that current day right-wing conservative white America is putting forth a concerted effort to hold blacks back just isn’t true. Indeed, put as frankly as possible, it’s a lie and anyone who says it is a bold faced liar. That’s not to say that blacks in America aren’t being held back. It just means that conservative Americans are not the ones doing it. (continue at the Last Refuge)

REASON TO VOTE FOR HERMAN CAIN: We are told that Herman Cain can't win, just like we are told that he's a racist, and other drivel. Don't believe it. Vote for him if he represents your views because no matter what anyone says, anybody can win if they get enough votes (think Obama).

I'm hoping voter turnout will be huge in November 2012, especially in Tennessee where we had the second lowest voter turnout of all states in November 2010, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey. Some are even predicting a landslide vote against Obama.

Just 37.7 percent of Tennessee citizens over 18 voted. Only Texas, with 36.4 percent, had a lower rate.

Last year’s state rate is also the lowest in a congressional election since 1998. More than 45 percent of Tennesseans voted in 2006 and 2002. (The Tennesseean)

If you will get up, support Herman Cain, tell your friends, family, co-workers about him, send him money if you can, go vote for him, he could win. Wouldn't that be great for this country. A non-politician, good family man, knowledgeable business man, true Conservative, with hopefully a majority of Conservatives in the House and Senate to back him up. Woo hoo! Now that's change I can really believe in.

The Watcher of Weasels Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for this week, carved eternally in the akashic records of cyberspace.

Israel is very much in the news these days (when isn’t it) and a number of pundits have looked at the threats the country faces and concluded that its very existence is in danger. This week’s winner, Joshuapundit’s Can Israel Survive? analyzes at the question and the threats and sees things quite differently. Here’s a slice:

There’s a great deal of speculation these days on Israel’s dire situation, most notably from renowned author and scholar Victor Davis Hanson in the National Review, who prefaces it with a remark that the country has never been in more danger.

The Islamist regimes in Egypt and elsewhere brought on by the Arab Spring and their growing hostility to Israel, the genocidal influence of Iran and its missile armed proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, Erdogan’s Islamist Turkey, the huge influence of Arab petro-dollars, and the indifference and growing anti-semitism in much of Europe and the exhaustion and debt of the United States are frequently cited.

It’s a gloomy picture, and none of it is to be trivialized. But I think dire predictions of Israel’s demise are premature, to say the least.

It’s worth remembering that Israel has faced far worst and survived. In 1948, the British left Palestine, but not before confiscating as many arms in the hands of Jews as they could find and turning over strategic locations to Israel’s genocidal enemies. In the year leading up to that conflict, the British armed the Arab nations with modern weapons including aircraft and tanks in spite of their open and explicit threats of jihad against Israel’s Jews. In the case of Jordan, the British not only trained the Arab Legion but officered it during the 1948 war and oversaw the ethnic cleansing of Jews from their homes in Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem, led by a Jew hating British Colonel by the name of John Glubb, AKA Glubb Pasha. And this was a mere three years after the liberation of Auschwitz.

We've known for some time that Hugo Chavez has cancer and has been receiving chemotherapy treatments. The most recent reports say he may be losing that battle with cancer. It is being reported that Chavez was rushed to a military hospital for emergency care following kidney failure, but chavez is trying to deny those reports.

One must wonder what Venezuela without Chavez will be like, who will take his place, will policies change? Our friend Reza Kahlili (not his real name), former Revolutionary Guard in Iran, double agent who worked with the CIA, and author of A Time To Betray which betrays the horrors of prison in Iran and Kahlili's life, is concerned and writes "Iranian Jihadists at the Gate" about an Iranian missile base in Venezuela.

America!! It’s time to wake up: There’s an Iranian missile base in Venezuela; The Iranian Navy is starting a mission in the Atlantic Ocean and into the Gulf of Mexico; Iranian missiles are being armed with nuclear warheads; Iran now has enough enriched uranium for six nuclear bombs; and Iran has hundreds of terrorist cells in the U.S. and in Europe.

For decades I have tirelessly tried to warn the West about the ideology and agenda of the radicals ruling Iran. I have urged the West to help the people of Iran with their aspirations for freedom and democracy. I have tried to help the West understand the determination of these radicals in their quest to bring about death, destruction and disaster to the world.

However, the Western leaders have instead chosen to allow these radicals not only to slaughter the freedom loving people of Iran but to arm themselves to the teeth and to continue developing their nuclear program unabated, which only emboldens them and confirms their belief that Allah is protecting them — that they are on the right path.

In May, I reported that the Revolutionary Guards were building a missile base in Venezuela (Opinion: Iran is Building a Secret Missile Installation in Venezuela). The leaders of Iran and Venezuela hailed what they called their strong strategic relationship, saying they are united in efforts to establish a “New World Order” that will eliminate Western dominance over global affairs.

I revealed back in July (KAHLILI: Iranian missiles could soon reach U.S. shores) that the Guards have armed their naval vessels with long range surface-to-surface ballistic missiles; that the Iranian Navy plans to start missions in the Atlantic Ocean and into the Gulf of Mexico — off the shores of America’s eastern and southern coasts.

Yesterday, Reuters reported that Iran says it is ready to deploy its Navy near the U.S. coast. It is important to now understand that the danger posed by the Jihadists in Tehran is not only an existential threat to Israel, but soon it will be an existential threat to the U.S. (continue reading and see video at Family Security Matters)

Is there any reason to think things will change if Hugo Chavez should die from his cancer? There is no way to know for sure, but things don't look very promising.

Our friend Mark Falcoff writes to comment on the news that Hugo Chávez is in serious condition:

The latest rumors out of Caracas — unconfirmed but not wholly without some foundation — are that Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez may be fatally succumbing to cancer. If this is so, it won’t be long before the world knows it. The news certainly justifies some reflection on what might happen in that country were the president to die at the present time.

The fact is, chavismo is a one-man circus. There is simply no one else in the regime, not even his brother Adán, who can play the same role and attract the same level of political support. Chávez’s survival is absolutely crucial to the continuation of the regime, because the Venezuelan president, for all his buffoonery, for all the waste and corruption and downright silliness associated with his government, is still popular with roughly half the country’s population.

On the other hand, perhaps as much as forty percent — certainly thirty percent — are mildly to strongly opposed to his regime and its continuation in any form.

It is common to point out that the opposition is not merely numerically outnumbered, but also qualitatively weaker. There is no outstanding opposition leader–indeed, there are far too many individuals competing for the same role. (continue reading at Powerline)

The Iranian regime, following the commandments set out in the Koran, the hadiths, and the Islamic law, is about to execute a man, Youcef Nadarkhani, for converting to Christianity and becoming a Christian pastor.

Anwar al-Awlaki was killed using two Predator drones and hellfire missiles in a morning air raid in the northern al-Jawf province that borders Saudi Arabia, 8 km (five miles) from the town of Khashef, about 140 km east of Sanaa, at about 9:55 am (0655 GMT) today. Al-Awlaki was in a moving vehicle with 3 or 4 others at the time of the strike. He's dead and the only good terrorist is a dead terrorist. They can run, but they can't hide forever.

Fox News is reporting that a second American, Samir Khan, was also killed with al-Awlaki. Read all about Samir Khan here.

The CIA had a "kill or capture" order on al-Awlaki who was the called the head of AQAP, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. However, Hindustan Times reports Awlaki was not a senior Islamic cleric, nor a commander of AQAP, which is led by a Yemeni named Nasser al-Wuhayshi,former aide to Osama bin laden) but he played a key role in the group's global outreach. His death is being described as the most prominent Al Qaeda figure t9o be killed sinceOsama bin Laden, which is probably true. Who will move up into al-Awlaki's position and does it really matter?

"Awlaki's death won't hurt al Qaeda's operations because he didn't have a leadership role. But the organisation has lost an important figure for recruiting people from afar," said Said Obeid, a Yemeni analyst on al Qaeda.

Henry Wilkinson, head analyst at risk consultancy Janusian in London, said Awlaki's demise would have little impact on AQAP's local operations, but added: "He was a rare talent who could reach out and recruit and mobilise. If the US have killed Awlaki, then they have achieved a major target." [snip]

Awlaki's killing, if confirmed, deprives al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) of an eloquent preacher seen as its most talented English-language propagandist who has advocated -- and been implicated in -- attacks on the United States.

Some of the hijackers in the September 11, 2001 attacks attended mosques where Awlaki preached in the United States.

His death could be a boon for Yemen's embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh, clinging to power despite months of popular protests, factional violence and international pressure.

It was not immediately clear if Yemen had carried out the raid or if Awlaki had been killed by a US drone strike. A US drone aircraft targeted but missed Awlaki in May.

"The terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed along with some of his companions," the Yemeni defence ministry said in a statement texted to journalists, but gave no details. (continue reading)

“As we have stated repeatedly in the past, the American Muslim community firmly repudiated Anwar al-Awlaki’s incitement to violence, which occurred after he left the United States. While a voice of hate has been eliminated, we urge our nation’s leaders to address the constitutional issues raised by the assassination of American citizens without due process of law.” (WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/30/11)

September 29, 2011

In the current GOP 2012 presidential debates, all the Republican candidates have voiced the need to drastically re-structure the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Under the current EPA director, Lisa Jackson, the Obama administration is unleashing on the country the most comprehensive and far-reaching environmental regulations ever seen.

Framed around the need to fulfill job growth in conjunction with cleaning up America’s portion of the planet, Jackson disseminated $ 6.2 million for Brownfield clean up jobs in July this year. This benign sounding program was advertised as an environmentally “friendly” job plan that would clean up old gas stations, smelter plants, and industrial properties. Of course what is not mentioned during the high-blown rhetoric about saving Mother Earth by uniting government and environmentalism is that businesses that find themselves in ideological conflict with the ever growing list of “Green initiatives” will face a monstrous State apparatus that is all too eager to unleash “green justice” on all violators. Herein lies the economic quandary for Kansas.

Unfortunately for Kansas, its cattle industry, oil and gas development, and even the growing of crops are directly in the stomping path of the EPA. Through increased regulations and government manipulation, oil drillers are finding it harder to drill oil in Kansas, and even drill for natural gas, a highly abundant energy opportunity in the state. Building coal burning power plants that have the potential to create hundreds if not thousands of new Kansas jobs is like pulling teeth. The environmental regulations and the misguided Green mentality that the current Obama administration embraces and allows to flourish has become an EPA monster with Lisa Jackson in full charge going full throttle.

The EPA monster was recently spotted in Western Kansas where is was battling the rural cooperative, Sunflower Electric, now at risk of having to charge higher rates to customers or not supply services at all to rural areas of the state due to a new thrashing “sea of regulations.” I had a chance to interview on my radio program, Conscience of Kansas, Congressman Tim Huelskamp, a native to the First District of Kansas. He is attempting to combat EPA aggression against free market initiatives within the state. Huelskamp is the co-sponsor of the TRAIN-Act, Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation. The Act would require an impact analysis to determine the cumulative effect that EPA regulations are having on the economy.

In my interview, Huelskamp made clear his concern. It is a concern that is on the minds of many Americans, namely, that the EPA is overregulating business and industry in the country. In Kansas alone, Huelskamp said that the EPA treats farm “spilt milk as if it is an oil spill.” The Congressman is also aware of new EPA regulations that make the common practice of transporting fuel, over 119 gallons, a violation of Federal law without a hazardous materials permit. Obviously the bureaucrats that are crafting EPA regulations have never worked on a farm. But, is it simply ignorance that brings about such terrible regulations or is there another agenda still?

In reality, the EPA monster is motivated by a mentality that opposes the capitalistic free market foundations of traditional America. On the subject of the chasm that exists between big Green governmental ideology and the free market Kansas mentality, Huelskamp commented that a business owner in Kansas told him that liberals in Washington see all business as nothing more than a “bunch of crooks.” They are bad guys that need to be taken down a notch. I feel that the current administration’s hostility toward free market initiatives in places like Kansas goes far deeper. There appears to be anger in Washington toward the American spirit that fights for individualism and against becoming part of the collective, even when that collective is touted as being beautifully “green.” It has become all too apparent when we watch the EPA monster grow larger each day and the idea of the individual becomes ever more endangered that without the American people adjusting the leadership of this country, the American economy remains at great risk. What is the EPA’s goal? The monster wishes to gorge on both the innovators and free marketers in Kansas and elsewhere.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his Ph.D. in Sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of several books including the 2011 release “The Good Fight: Why Conservatives Must Take Back America.” Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 award-winning radio program, Conscience of Kansas airing on KRMR The Patriot 105.7 FM, www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact him at ibbetson105.7@gmail.com

Pease set your DVRs or tune in this Thursday through Sunday (Sept. 29–Oct. 2) when Independent Institute Founder and President David Theroux joins John Stossel to discuss the changing tide in the American political culture and answer a question on the minds of many American voters: What if libertarians were in charge?

Having directed and published over seventy scholarly books, Mr. Theroux is the publisher of the quarterly journal, The Independent Review, and editor of the books, The Energy Crisis, Private Rights and Public Lands (with P. Truluck), and Politics and Tyranny. His articles have appeared in USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Investor’s Business Daily, The Washington Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dallas Morning News, and Insight, among many others, and he has appeared on ABC, MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, NPR, Voice of America, and other local, national, and international TV and radio networks and programs.

(Articles from the Independent Institute are regularly posted here at Right Truth. I think having Theroux on Stossel should be very intresting)

Stossel will air on Fox Business Network: (times subject to change)

Eastern:Thursday, September 29th at 10pm ET Saturday, October 1st at 1am ET Saturday, October 1st at 9pm ET Sunday, October 2nd at Midnight ET Sunday, October 2nd at 9am ET Sunday, October 2nd at 9pm ET

Pacific:Thursday, September 29th at 7pm PT Friday, September 30th at 10pm PT Saturday, October 1st at 6pm PT Saturday, October 1st at 9pm PT Sunday, October 2nd at 6am PT Sunday, October 2nd at 6pm PT

Stossel will air on Fox News Channel: (times subject to change)

Eastern:Saturday, October 1st at 10pm ET Sunday, October 2nd at 1am ET

Pacific:Saturday, October 1st at 7pm PTSaturday, October 1st at 10pm PT

September 28, 2011

I e-conversed with a self-proclaimed Hawk. We discussed why the US continues to fund the UN, since it represents autocracies, and why President Obama reaches out to them, although they mean us harm. The Hawk agreed.

President Obama is not an ignorant man, yet he courted those nations and hosted fascists, Islamists, Communists and anarchists in the White House. He bowed to a Saudi prince and, like the Queen of England, never visited Israel although they’d both been in the neighborhood. The Hawk agreed.

Our news media, inspired by our leadership, is complicit. David Meir Levi, writer and lecturer, wrote a recipe for Israel’s conquest by presenting the nine fronts from which to breach Israel’s borders. Thomas Friedman of the New York Times has become one of Israel’s leading Jewish Defamers in the media, writing distortions and falsehoods against Israel. The Hawk expressed his devotion to Caroline Glick, a superb analyst and reporter. While she is a wonderful journalist, we must never have a golden calf when seeking the truth. In this instance, in addition to Glick’s thorough information, we need guidance for a precise course of action to thwart a very malignant soldier of Islamic conquest.

To placate us sans thought process, Congress suggests sanctions against Cuba, the Soviet Union, Iran, the United Nations, but not against the Palestinians who continue to fire rockets on Israel. Palestinians are well funded from UNRWA, and received up to $900 million from the US, and more from numerous nations worldwide.

Israel needs to be supported, we agreed, but we must define support:

· Our US government should have expressed outrage to our citizens for each terrorist death inflicted on the Israelis. · The media should report these murders with clarity and truth, reflect our fury and identify the guilty.· Our President should be telling Israel it’s time to ignore words like “disproportionate,” and fight to win, as though they aim to kill us – because they aim to kill us. · We Americans should announce that we will stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel’s IDF and retaliate to stop the rockets once and for all.

And the Hawk assured me, “Here is where I am a hawk. If they bomb us, kill 10 times that number; if that doesn’t work, wipe out a city.”

I replied the enemy did bomb us on 9/11, and they’ve been bombing Israel since the Arabs first heard talk of Israel’s nationhood, in the 1920s. The Hawk said nothing.

I wrote, “If we can’t reach Obama, we could reach out to Congress, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. She would understand because she came from a despotic country, Cuba. We asked her to address the concerns of the American people and ask specific questions of President Obama from the well of the House.”

I told the Hawk of the specific questions to ask when he calls Ros-Lehtinen; they’re suggested on the neveragainisnow.net website. I said, “If you’re a Hawk, join me in calling Congress daily until she elicits Obama’s reply.” And the Hawk replied, “I don’t want to piss her off.”

I’m reminded of the old joke about the two Jews, an anarchist and a humble tailor, who were facing the firing squad in Tzarist Russia. As the anarchist was about to be blindfolded, he recoiled, preferring to face his killers defiantly. And the humble tailor cried out, “Oy, don’t make trouble!” And so it appears to be with the Hawk. Facing the annihilation of his own people, he still fears speaking out.

In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” This is a Hawk that will not fly.

An immigrant group based in Bern has called for the emblematic white cross to be removed from the Swiss national flag because as a Christian symbol it "no longer corresponds to today's multicultural Switzerland."

Ivica Petrusic, the vice president of Second@s Plus, a lobbying group that represents mostly Muslim second-generation foreigners in Switzerland (who colloquially are known as secondos) says the group will launch a nationwide campaign in October to ask Swiss citizens to consider adopting a flag that is less offensive to Muslim immigrants.

In a September 18 interview with the Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung, Petrusic said the cross has a Christian background and while the Christian roots of Switzerland should be respected, "it is necessary to separate church and state" because "Switzerland today has a great religious and cultural diversity. One has to ask if the State wants to continue building up a symbol in which many people no longer believe."

In the interview, Petrusic said Switzerland needs new symbols with which everyone, including non-Christians, can identify. As an alternative to the current Swiss flag (see image here), Petrusic proposed the former flag of the Helvetic Republic (see image here) which was officially introduced in 1799 and consisted of green, red and yellow colors. "Those colors are similar to the current flags of Bolivia and Ghana and would represent a more progressive and open-minded Switzerland," Petrusic said.

The proposal to change the Swiss flag has been met with outrage across the political spectrum and is sure to fuel anti-immigrant sentiments in Switzerland. (continue reading at Hudsom New York.org)

Two Bangladeshis who were caught by Customs and Border Protection illegally crossing the border in June 2010 admitted under questioning that they were members of a designated terrorist organization that signed on to a fatwa by Osama bin Laden pledging to wage war against Americans.

But amazingly, after one of the men requested asylum, he was released on bond. And now one Homeland Security official tells me, concerning the released terror operative, “We don’t have the slightest idea where he is now.”

The two men, Muhammad Nazmul Hasan and Mirza Muhammad Saifuddin, were intercepted near Naco, Arizona, not long after they had crossed the border on June 25, 2010. During their interrogation, one of the men admitted that they were members of Harakat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), which was designated a terrorist organization by the United States in February 2008. Earlier this month the group claimed responsibility for a bombing a courthouse in New Delhi. That attack killed 11 and wounded at least 45 others.

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

First off, a shout out from me to the Council for their assistance and good will this week…much appreciated! And for those of you whom celebrate it, L’Shanah Tovah Tikatevu.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to the ‘Contact Me’ page at Joshuapundit and post a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won’t be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST to be considered for our honorable mention category, and return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

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